[theo_luddite]

Playoff decider amended

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The links and the explainers. Scream as loud as you like so I fix the f'ups or need to explain something in more detail.

April
4th April Rowing The Boat Race – Women’s – Oxford/Cambridge
4th April Rowing The Boat Race – Men’s – Oxford/Cambridge

9th Apr - 12th April Golf The Masters Augusta, USA
Stats for players on the PGA Tour, scroll down to see more than the 1st 5 players. Pick 2025 from the drop down filter for last seasons stats if you want. I’ll add a link to who is actually “invited” to play nearer the day in case you pick someone who might not be there. (Unlikely, I know).
https://www.pgatour.com/stats/detail/120

11th April - 17th May Rugby Union Six Nations (Womens) Europe "Winning Team" 1st kick-off 11th Apr – England won last year and are ranked 1st in the World. Just saying https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/en/w6n

11th April Horse Racing Grand National Aintree "Colour(s) of winning Silks
Flag dropped - https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/the-gran...L0EALw_wcB.
I will update a link to riders/colours closer to the date of the race

12th April Football Vertu (EFL) Trophy Final Wembley Wining Team Kick off Quarter-Finals – er, Stockport it is then, for jjamez and themaclad, with SCO going all Pilgrims. I doubt he was on The Mayflower, but you never know. The rest of us need to give our lot a lesson in taking penalty kicks – if it’s only a video lesson, given our age(s).

18th April - 4th May Snooker World Championship The Crucible 1st break 18th April - https://www.wst.tv/rankings

April 18th – Jun 19th Basketball NBA Play-offs North America Winning Team 1st Tip-Off play-offs - https://www.nba.com/news/key-dates, https://www.nba.com/standings I will update the teams qualified for the Play-offs at the end of the “regular” season

April 18th - TBC Pond Hockey Lord Stanley's Shaving Mug North America Winner 1st puck drop, Play-offs TBD https://www.nhl.com/standings/2026-02-11/wildcard I will update the teams qualified for the Play-offs at the end of the “regular” season

May

May - 26 Sept Speedway Grand Prix Europe Winning Rider https://fimspeedway.com/sgp/riders
2 May Football Championship England Winning Team https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/table
2 May Football League One England Winning Team https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/tables#LeagueOne
2 May Football League Two England Winning Team https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/tables#LeagueTwo
9 May (approx) Football Scottish Premiership Winning Team https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/tab...remiership
16 May Football Women’s Super League England 2nd Placed team https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/wom...ague/table
16 May Football FA Cup Final Wembley Winning Team
4th Round is this weekend, so having given you no notice, you can wait for the 5th Round draw. https://www.thefa.com/news/2026/jan/12/e...e-20261201, NOT when the 5th Round kicks off.
24 May Football English Prima Donna League England Winning Team https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/tables

7 Jun Tennis Women’s Open Paris "Winner" https://www.wtatennis.com/rankings/singles
24 May-7 Jun Tennis Men’s Open Paris "Winner" https://www.atptour.com/en/rankings/singles

30 May Football UEFA Champions League Budapest Winning Team https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/standings/

30 May Rugby League Challenge Cup Final Wembley – Hull KR won last season
https://www.rugby-league.com/article/645...-confirmed
3rd Round already played so get your bets in early before the 4th round starts ~14th March

June

4 Jun-29 Jun Cricket England v New Zealand - 3 Tests. Shouldn’t be too hard to pick one of those.

6 Jun Horse Racing Derby Epsom England, Country of Winning Rider https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/epsom/ev...som-derby/
I will update the runners and riders closer to the day

7 Jun F1 Monaco Grand Prix Monaco Winning Driver. Think you know how this works
Just in case - https://www.formula1.com/en/drivers, https://www.formula1.com/en/teams

11 Jun-19 Jul Football World Cup 2026 North America Winning Country. Think you know how this works too.

12 Jun-5 Jul Cricket Women’s T20 World Cup England - https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments/...26/matches

18 Jun-21 Jun Golf U.S. Open Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, NY https://www.pgatour.com/stats/detail/120

29 Jun-12 July Tennis Women’s, Wimbledon London 29th June - 1st Serve
https://www.wtatennis.com/rankings/singles
29 Jun-12 July Tennis Men’s, Wimbledon London
https://www.atptour.com/en/rankings/singles

July

27 Feb-05 Jul (tbc) Netball Women’s Netball Super League - https://www.netballsl.com/standings/?season=2026
https://www.netballsl.com/news/london-pu...final-win/
Not the easiest website to navigate if you’re looking for recent history. Like last season? A WIKI check says London Pulse won with Loughborough Lightning as runners-up.
(Me neither if I’m being honest, but I’m trying to be more inclusive than last season, hence this thing has taken a bit longer to put together).

10 Jul-13 Jul Cricket England v India, Women’s 4 Day Test Lords, England, Winning Country, 1st ball bowled – um, again you can pick from 2. Can’t be too hard.

4 Jul-26 Jul Cycling Tour de France France Winning Rider Grand Depart 4th July https://www.letour.fr/en/ https://www.procyclingstats.com/rankings/me/individual
A couple of stages that start and or finish in Barcelona before they head over the Pair of Knees this year. Will update link later this year to try and include riders if available. It might be useful.
https://www.procyclingstats.com/rankings/me/individual

5 Jul F1 British Grand Prix Silverstone Winner - Lights out. Think you have the hang of this

16 Jul-19 Jul Golf, The Open Royal Birkdale, England. https://www.pgatour.com/stats/detail/120

23 Jul-2nd Aug Commonwealth Gold Medals England + Scotland First event 23rd Jul (or sooner) Just have a guess. What could you possibly lose? Includes Para Games. https://www.glasgow2026.com/

30-Jul-2nd August Golf The Women’s Open https://www.lpga.com/stats-and-rankings

August

01 Aug-09 Aug Cycling, Tour de France – Femmes
They start in Switzerland before hopping over a few Alpine passes.
https://www.letourfemmes.fr/en/overall-route, https://www.procyclingstats.com/rankings/we
Will provide more details nearer the date if available

19 Aug-13 Sep Cricket England v Pakistan, pick from 2

29 Aug Speedway World Cup Final, Warsaw, Poland
4 countries qualify from 8 in “semi’s” held in Germany and Latvia
https://fimspeedway.com/swc 4 Teams of 4 riders + a reserve.
Pick from the 4 Countries that qualify or stick your full throttled neck out early. If you pick a country that isn’t in the final, you can have another go before it starts.

31 Aug-13 Sep Tennis Women’s, US Open New York https://www.wtatennis.com/rankings/singles
31 Aug-13 Sep Tennis Men’s, US Open Noo Yark https://www.atptour.com/en/rankings/singles

September

14 Feb-11 Sep Rugby League Super League Winners UK Winning Team – 2 more teams this season - https://www.superleague.co.uk/clubs Hull KR won last season

11 Sep-13 Sep Golf Solheim Cup North Brabant, Netherlands https://www.solheimcup2026.golf/about Europe v USA
October

29 Sep-31 Oct (tbc) Baseball World Series North America Winning Team 1st pitch Play-Offs ~29-Sep – will update the qualifying teams later in the year. If you pick one now that doesn’t get into the play-off’s you can pick one that does before the first play-of game.

26 Oct Rugby League Super League Grand Final Old Trafford Winning Team 2nd March – anytime https://www.superleague.co.uk/clubs Hull KR won last season

November

1 Mar-22 Nov Motor Cycling Moto GP Global Winning Rider https://www.motogp.com/en/riders/motogp
Marc Márquez dominated this by a country mile last season, winning the title with more than a slack handful of races to go. Will he hang on again this season, or will his bro and others give him a harder time?

5 Jun-15Nov Canadian Football Grey Cup
Saskatchewan were last years winners, with the final heading towards The Rockies again in Calgary, will they repeat last year’s win?
https://www.cfl.ca/schedule/2026/, https://www.cfl.ca/standings/2025

15 Nov-22 Nov Tennis ATP Womens Winner First serve 15th November
https://www.wtatennis.com/rankings/singles
15 Nov-22 Nov Tennis ATP Mens Winner First serve 15th November
https://www.atptour.com/en/rankings/singles

4 July-29Nov Rugby Union Nations Championship
Replacing the Summer and Winter money grabs, Rugby Union, slowly continues to accept “League” type competitions with the Nations Championship. The “Summer bit” replaces some of the Northern Hemisphere tours ‘darn unda’ while the Autumn bit replaces the Southern Hemisphere Tours.
https://nationschampionshiprugby.com/en

12 Nov-15 Nov Golf Race to Dubai Global Highest Points 1st Tee, Open 16 Jul
This tournament is for GP Tour (i.e. European registered) players, but it doesn’t mean they have to be European. It’s an accumulation of points gathered through the year in GP Tour recognised events (which include Opens/Majors) culminating in the final competition in Dubai. Rory McIlroy won it last year.
https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tou.../rankings/

14 Nov-22 Nov Darts Grand Slam of Darts Wolverhampton
https://www.pdc.tv/rankings
I’ll update this closer to the tournament. It’s in my (current) back yard and on the way to a pub or two I occasionally frequent.

December

06 Dec F1 Abu Dhabi grand Prix Abu Dhabi Winner Lights out
If you’ve not got the hang of this by now ….. I will post an update.

10 Dec-Jan2 (tbc) Darts PDC World Darts Championship
https://www.pdc.tv/players

Dec-Jan (tbc) Cricket South Africa v England South Africa
There will be a tour, starting in December, finishing in January that includes 3 Tests, 3 ODI’s and 3 T 20’s. At the moment nobody knows which or when they will take place. I will pick the one series that finishes in 2026 (or as soon after as possible). I’ve picked the most reliable source for info as I can for now. You can wait a while to pick the winner if you wish. Updates as and when available.
https://barmyarmy.com/future-tours/engla...2026-2027/

Play-off Decider
11 Jun-19 Jul Football World Cup 2026 North America Home Countries

Right, pin back your lug-holes, this might take a while to explain.

I didn’t quite present this right first time round so I’m trying again. Bear with me.
Results+Goals F/A inc Penalty Shoot Outs +Points Total" Kick-off 1st game, 11th June

So far the two of us, Norf an’ Sarf of ‘Adrians Wall have qualified. If they can beat Italy, between them, one of Wales and Norn ‘Iron might also qualify. The way FIFA have fixed it, both can’t.

In the Group Fixtures, regardless of how it works out none of us will play each other so, points are awarded as follow:
Points for win – 3
Points for draw -1
Points for defeat – 0
Points for total goals scored AND conceded – every goal, so 3:2 = 5points.

There won’t be any extra time or penalties deciding these games, unless Trump thinks team USA aren’t going to win, obviously. Play those games by ear. Not hard to work out.

Knock out rounds

Win in 90 mins or Extra Time = 3 points
Draw in 90 mins and Extra Time = 1 point
Win on Penalties = 1 extra point
Points for total goals scored AND conceded – every goal including penalties.
So 2-2 plus 5-4 on pens = 1 for draw, 4 for goals, 9 for penalties. 1 for win = 15 points

Double Jeopardy

If, big if, any of the Home Country teams play each other in the knockout stages then the goals for and against will count to each country and total points.

So a 3:2 win will be 5 points for both Countries (total 10) plus the 3 points for the winners

A 1:1 draw followed by a 4:3 penalty shoot out will result in both sides getting a point for the draw plus a point for the team that wins the shootout. Both sides will get 9 points for the goals and penalties scored.

I hope that’s clear. I’ll do something like the Yorksha League table to update the tally.